1965 Pontiac GTO

Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines

You know "the note," scrawled on the backside of whatever is available and left wedged beneath the windshield wiper blade of some irresistible object of desire.
"If you decide to sell this car, please call me..."
Then comes the waiting, the hoping. Often there's no response, but every once in a while...
Robert Coleman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has his wife and one of the business cards she happened to have handy to thank for the discovery of his 1965 Pontiac GTO--purchased from the original owner.
There wasn't exactly a direct line from note on windshield to signature on ownership papers, however. The car that Mrs. Coleman was interested in was a newer model and actually owned by a completely different person.
"My wife, several years before we purchased this car, spotted a 1970 GTO and left her business card on it. Sometime later, we received a call from the owner."
Robert went for a look at the '70, but was more intrigued by the story of another GTO.
"We were talking and the guy said, 'My brother is thinking about selling his 1965 GTO. He bought the car new. He lives just down the road.'"
The pair set out to kick that GTO's tires--Robert, meanwhile, a serial GTO owner and restorer, telling himself that this was going to be another dead end.
"We hopped in the car and went to his brother's place. When we arrived, the garage doors were open. I thought, it's probably an automatic [transmission] with a four-barrel... I can pass on that. But I looked in and it was a four-speed with gauges."
A glimpse under the hood made Robert's resistance crumble a little more--the car was also sporting a Tri-Power intake and carburetors.
"I asked, 'When did you put these on?'" Robert said to the owner, referring to the desirable and often owner- or dealer-installed three-carburetor arrangement. "He stood up straight and said, 'That's the way it came!'"
Now, of course, Robert was interested--but he wasn't making an offer before verifying the car's heritage. "The deal didn't happen bing-bang," he said. "I told him, 'I believe you, but I've got to get a PHS information packet before I buy the car."
It checked out, and Robert eventually struck a deal with the GTO's owner. "It came back as being a Tri-Power four-speed GTO. It was a good deal for both of us. I didn't steal it, but he didn't give it away. The car was attractive, though, because it had never been in an accident or repainted."
The GTO's condition could be described as intact, but showing all the typical signs of aging associated with normal use. Outside, the Teal Turquoise paint was worn and chipped. There was also evidence of rust, and some prior rust repair in the usual areas behind the front and rear wheels, where debris is often kicked up by the tire treads and trapped between layers of sheetmetal.
The engine compartment was clean, but the chrome valve covers and air-cleaner lids were lightly pitted with rust. The original satin black finish on the firewall and inner fenders was also wearing a light patina, as was the engine block and cylinder heads. The original water pump and starter had been replaced, but otherwise, the GTO retained all of its original accessories.
Inside, things were in similar shape: lightly worn but completely intact. The woodgrain dash face was cracked and buckled, the carpet ragged and the steering wheel was cracked.
"I thought it would be interesting to take an unmolested car apart and photograph everything," Robert said. "I wanted to take note of the details, like the hardware that was used and where the spatter paint was in the trunk. This was my chance to take a GTO that was unmolested and do the best job I could to restore it back to factory condition only nicer."
As you might imagine, this wouldn't be a "driving restoration," but rather a complete ground-up resurrection.
The GTO was capable of running when Robert took ownership of it, but he resisted the temptation of getting it in shape for a hot lap around the block. "We were able to get it started--it had been sitting so long that the gas was terrible," he said. "It ran enough to prove that the engine wasn't locked up."
While Robert purchased the car in July 2004, it sat for about three years before work commenced. A machinist by trade, he is meticulous and methodical right from the outset of a project and is careful not to rush in before he has a plan in place.
"I pushed it in the garage and it sat for awhile," he said. "I'll look a car over really well and start gathering the parts I need until I'm convinced I can get everything to do the job right."
Likewise, when he finally decided to begin disassembling the GTO, Robert didn't attack the car like a chop-shop operator.
"I was in no hurry," he said. "I decided what to replace and photographed all around the car--inside, outside, the engine, the undercarriage. I took note of dozens of details. For instance, which way did the bolts go through the bumper brackets? I also checked the panel fit and the seams, measuring everything to see how crooked the car was before I touched it."
Most restorers bag and tag their project's hardware, but Robert took the extra step of printing out cards on which he could note the dimensions, original location, and the number of each fastener required for a given subassembly.
"As I took things apart, I'd take the bolts out, put them in a bag, and fill out a tag," he said. "I'd fill out that tag and put everything in bins. I stripped the entire car down like that."
He then sent the frame and suspension components out to be media blasted. Using a torch and putty knife, he scraped the undercoating off the underside of the GTO, revealing a couple of small holes in the floor that needed repairing. The trunk pan, too, was replaced.
While work on the chassis and floors proceeded at home, Robert sent the engine to Gaydosh Performance, where the 389 was rebuilt to stock specs. The M-20 four-speed was also rebuilt, as was the rear axle, which came from the factory with a 3.23:1 gear ratio and a Safe-T-Track limited-slip differential.
Robert reassembled the chassis with new springs, bushings, steering parts and brakes, as well as new brake lines. All of the low-gloss black portions of the car, he sprayed with black lacquer treated with a flattening agent. The lacquer was applied over epoxy primer.
When the chassis was finished, the body was lowered onto the frame and the rebuilt drivetrain installed. "After I got the body and chassis together, I put the engine in and ran the cam in," Robert said. "I then stripped it down to bare metal, loaded it on the trailer and took it down to the body shop."
Robert made the decision early on to farm out the body and paint work to an area professional, Tony Monza, who spent about 10 months getting the GTO's sheetmetal and finish just right.
"The body shop did all of the sheetmetal work. I didn't trust my own bodywork and paint--I just couldn't do it to suit myself," he said. "The panels are so flat."
Tony repaired rust on the lower quarter panels behind the rear wheels on both sides, the outer edge of one rear wheel house, the lower front fenders, a door corner and around the back window.
"When they did the patch panels, I told them, 'I'm really shooting for the big trophies,'" Robert said. "So he butt-welded all the joints so you couldn't tell that any metal work was done. Then it was all flush-welded inside and out."
The car was painted with Du Pont Chromapremier basecoat/clearcoat, then color-sanded beginning with 1000-grade paper and finishing with 3000 before buffing. As the car neared completion in the body shop, Robert began reassembling it in an adjacent bay.
"The hood and fenders were painted separately, so while Tony was wet-sanding those, I was starting to hang stuff on, like the exhaust. I used a two-barrel intake and carb to break in the engine and move the car around. Once all the dirty work was done, I put the Tri-Power setup on it, along with the new wiring, hoses and so on, and then Tony and I installed the fenders after he buffed them."
On the inside, Robert used upholstery from Legendary Auto Interiors, installed by Lancaster County Upholstery. The hardware was a mix of NOS and reproduction pieces that came from a variety of sources. All of the glass on the car was replaced as well, for a showroom-fresh look.
One of the biggest hang-ups was trying to get the painted interior surfaces to match, which resulted in painting and repainting the inside. "I worked with a local guy (mixing the paint); it took us four or five tries until we got it right and I painted all of the interior metal," Robert said.
When the car was finished in the spring of 2009, Robert made the rounds on the show circuit while the fruits of his labors were still ripe. "When I finish a car, I go out and campaign it--hit the trail pretty hard while the car is fresh," he said. In the past two years, the GTO has grabbed a GTOAA Gold award, POCI Gold and Senior awards, AACA Senior and Grand National Awards, as well as many local first place and best of show awards.
The car's former owner has also given Robert's work his stamp of approval, despite being taken aback at the sight of the car totally disassembled.
"He was pleased with it," Robert said. "When he saw it apart, he seemed speechless, but I told him, 'It's as far apart as it's ever going to be now. From here on, it's going back together.'"

This article originally appeared in the September, 2011 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.